Do you OVEReat or UNDEReat when you are really nervous?

[Natasha0717]

Just wondering how you guys deal with food during times of high-stress. I have heard of nervous people munching on anything in sight to help calm them down (aka comfort food)...but I'm the type that goes directly into starvation mode when I'm scared, esp. when something is going on for a long time, like an illness in the family, or even a death. I completely lose my appetite and have to begin force-feeding myself. (Which is no picnic, food tastes like rocks when you have no appetite whatsoever.) How do you react to food when you're very nervous or scared about something?

 

[Concernedgal]

I absolutely positively do over eat during stressful times. It's like a sort of comfort and also that's what i'm focused on the eating and not the actual problem. By the end though. .. my stomach hurts and my problems are back.

 

[gkillian]

I'm definitely an overeater. I already have a bad habit of 'grazing' throughout the day, and stress usually just causes me to give in to that urge more and more often. It's a creature comfort, and it takes willpower to avoid doing it. Stress is a pretty good way to erode said willpower, heh.

I do occasionally under-eat as well, but that's usually when I'm in a more active/productive sort of manic cycle where I simply forget to do so.

 

[Concernedgal]

Manic cycle you say? You bipolar too? I haven't gotten the clear diagnosis for it but, that's one of they're thoeries. Been to three doctors and all three say something different. One says bipolar the other says, severe depression and i've even recently heard that it might be undiagnosed autism. .. aspergers to be exact from since I was a child. I was an 80s baby and by 89 when I was in kindergarten. . They probably just thought I was very shy. Maybe they just didn't put 2 and 2 together back then. If i've had this my whole life and nobody could figure it out. .. then i'm going to be so angry.

 

[misszerable]

I tend to eat mindlessly when I'm mildly anxious. Eating brings me quick though temporary comfort and relief and foods are always within easy reach. But in really stressful and scary, life-or-death situations, I can go on without food for a time. I've gone hungry and sleepless while anxiously waiting for news and for something that I knew would happen and hurt me. In many similar situations, I just can't turn to food for comfort.

 

[Kaynil]

I am an overeater, it is rare the time when my depression or anxiety has affected me to the point where I can't be bothered to eat. if I am at home I'll much whatever I can find or cook something quick and unbalanced. If I am out I might spend money eating in a fast food joint or something.

I want to think I've gotten better keeping that under control but I still have a way to go.

 

[janemariesayed]

As I am a little overweight and a great lover of cakes and pastries, I would say that I overeat when I am stressed or anxious. If I'm feeling a bit nauseous with my anxiety then I don't feel like eating. Sometimes I don't eat until midday and then feel dizzy with low blood sugar. If I don't remember to eat then I can pass out and suffer organ failure.

When I begin to feel a little wobbly in my torso, I start to think about food. The trouble is that when I am anxious or stressed, that I eat too many carbohydrates which are a comfort food.

 

[Vycky]

I used to overeat a lot but I stopped in favor of smoking I know I'm just substituting a bad habit for another but I honestly can't seem to care lately about that. There was even a time when I would overeat and smoke a lot.

 

[Emma_s]

I tend to undereat when I'm very stressed. If I'm really nervous I'll skip meals, just don't have the appetite. Sometimes depending on the situation, I feel like I don't deserve to indulge. I do have periods where I overeat. But generally, I'm inclined to lose my desire to eat.